Alice A. Gray collection of Asa Gray papers and artifacts
Scope and Content
The collection consists of Asa Gray scrapbooks and clippings compiled by Alice Gray. The collection also contains artifacts that belonged to Asa Gray.
Dates
- Creation: 1862-1927
Creator
- Gray, Alice A., 1850-1930 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is available by appointment for research. Researchers must register and provide valid photo identification. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.
Extent
0.5 linear feet (2 scrapbook boxes, 5 folders in shared box 3, and artifacts )Biography
Alice A. Gray was born in January, 1850, to Moses Miller Gray and Emily Townsend Gray in Oneida County, New York. She spent much of her life in Sauquoit, New York, and later lived in Utica. She was close to her uncle and aunt, Asa and Jane Loring Gray, and was familiar with their home at the Harvard Botanic Garden.
Gray started her career at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts around 1874 where she was curator of the Department of Textiles. She became the custodian of the John Whipple House in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1898. Gray died on April 5, 1930.
Sources
Museum of Fine Arts. 1899. Report of the Executive Committee. Annual Report of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. 23:5-10.
Ware WR, editor. 1900. “The Georgian Period", being measured drawings of colonial work, 7. New York: The American Architect.
Waters TF. 1915. The John Whipple House in Ipswich, Mass. and the people who have owned and lived in it. Ipswich (MA): Ipswich Historical Society.
Series Description
This collection is arranged in three series:
- Series I: Scrapbooks. Two scrapbooks that Alice Gray compiled about Asa Gray
- Series II: Clippings. Collection of magazine and newspaper clippings on botanical subjects
- Series III: Asa Gray Artifacts
Provenance
Alice Gray gave several of Asa Gray’s belongings to the Gray Herbarium in 1913. The gift included a silver pen, gold watch, magnifying glass, ink bottle, and pocket Bible.
Clippings were given to the Gray Herbarium in June 1922.
A third gift in 1927 included a plate of the John Bartram house, a scrapbook, and a silk waistcoat.
Creator
- Gray, Alice A., 1850-1930 (Person)
- Title
- Gray, Alice A., 1850-1930. Alice A. Gray collection of Asa Gray papers and artifacts, 1885-1927: A Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University.
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- gra00060
Repository Details
Part of the Botany Libraries, Gray Herbarium Library, Harvard University Repository
The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Gray Herbarium Library specializes in the identification and classification of New World plants with emphasis on North American plants. The Archives of the Gray Herbarium houses unique resources including personal papers, institutional records, field notes and plant lists, expedition records, photographs, original artwork, and objects from faculty, curators, staff, and affiliates of the Gray Herbarium.
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botref@oeb.harvard.edu